
I EVERY TEACHER. 




This series of Books for Teachers beean with the issue in 1875 of 
Coinriion 6cliool Law for Common Sclwol Teachers. Within nine years more 
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live hundred thousand copies. That uo teacher's library is fairly com- 
plete without at least several of these books is commonly admitted, and 
the titles of some of the more important are hereto appended. 

Besides liis own publications, the .undersiirned deals largely in all 
Tea<--her's atul School Supplies of every kind. He also makes a speciality 
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be will endeavor to till promptly and cheaply orders for any American or 
English publications ot this character. It is his intention to keep con- 
stantly in stock every reputable pedagogical book now published; and 
he also keeps close watch of auction sales, both in this country and 
abroad, in order to secure such works as are now "out of print," but 
vrhich have — - — _-♦— i-^* — ;— ' — '-- *^ ' 3 jg solicited, 



and will re» 

Agalite Sla 

tactured 
and ijsse 
feet, one 

Aids to Scfa 

100 tiiugU 

Supplie 

IScts; Gl 

Alden (,l03( 

Bardeeu ((. 
law as t« 
District. 
To whict 
Examiua 
and App' 

— — Ruder ich 
295. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

d)^ iq?5n# ^^* 

S]ielf.-..-\il 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



JSE, N. Y. 



and manu- 
a powder, 
o cover 5U 

1200 Cards, 

its; Cards, 

jio, pp. 153. 
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il6mo, pp. 



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-VERBAL PITFALLS. A manual of 1500 misused words, compiled from 
leadiiiji authorities. Cloth, l6nio., pp. 223 

- Some FacU about our Public Sdiools. An arginnent for the Township 

System. 8vo, pp. 32 

EducnfionalJoitrualiam. 8vo, pp. 30. 



50 
1 23 



The :School Bulletin Year Bonk: Educational directory of the State of 

>fp\v York for 1879. 8vo, pp. 40. with map 

Bassett (J. A.) LATITUDE, LONGITUDE AND TIME. Emljracaag a com- 
prehensive discussion, witli over 100 illustrative questions and examples. 

:\I;inilla. 16mo, pp. 42 

Bcebe (LevlN.) First Steps among Figiirei^. A Drill Book in the Funda- 
ii;i-ni:U Hales of Arithmetic, based upon the (rrube itfet/tod. Teachers' 

Edition. Cloth. Kimo, pp.32t) ....- 

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ReesHii (Ainable) The Spirit of Ednnntion. 16mo., pp.325 

Bennett (P.-of. C. W.) ^Tatiiinid Education. Paper, 8vo., pp. 28 

Hlb)t» Tlif, in the Public Srliodh. \'ols. I, II 

Bradfor<i (W. H.) The Thi)tu Possible Problems of Percentage. Flexible 
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75 



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Brown, (C. J.) rractiCR,! Writing Portfolio, conslstinc: of the most ap- 
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Euiciiard (O. R.) Two months in Europe. I'aper. 12mo, pp.158 50 

Cheney (F.) A. Olobe Manual for Schools. Boards, Idmo, pp. 95 50 

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Constitution of the United States and ot N. Y. Cloth, 12mo., pp. 82 25 

Cooke (Sidney G.i Politics and ScUiols. Paiier, 8vo., pp. 23 25 

Crai? (Asa H.) The Common School Question Book. Cloth 12mo, pp. 340 1 50 

Davis (VV. W.) Suggesiions for TeaclUvtU Fractions. Paper, 12ino, pp. 43.. 25 
De Graflf (E. V.) Practical Phonics. A comprehensive study of Proiiun- 
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Giffin fWm. M.) How Not to Teach; or, 100 Things the Teacher should 

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pp. 807 1 25 



HOW TO 



SECURE AND RETAIN 

ATTENTION. 



HY 



JAMES L. HUGHES, 

INSPECTOR OF PUBLIC S,CHOOLS, TORONTO, CANADA. 



^^A.tention makes the genius: all learning, fancy, and 
science depend upon it." 




^„<^V OF CO V3Tv>v 



DEC 27 1886n 



'• \ f 



SYRACUSE, N. Y. : 

C. W. IUroeen, Publisher. 



Copyrighr, 1885, by C. W Bardcen. 



.H8 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 

Mistakes in Teaching. 



Price 50 Cts. 



Notice of Fokmer Editions. 

Kor younj; teachers I know of no b^ok that contains, in the 9:iine cnnipjiss, sn 
imich matter bearing; directly on their work, and tapaMe of beinf; immediately 
utilized. They cannot make a better iiivestinerit of titty cents. — J/. A. Newell^ 
State SupH, Maryland. 

I have never seen a book of more practical value to te.ichers. At wlmt rate ran 
1 i)rocure twenty-five copies? - B. B. Snow, City Sup'i, Auburn, N. Y. 

The " Mistakes in Teaching;" has come, and I have rt-ad it with interest It is 
a uaefnl book, and should be in the liands ol all teachers. It points out clearly 
those things in which nearly all of us are guilty. I hope the book may meet a 
ready and extensive sale.— i>*. M. Bet/nolds, Sup't Si-rhools, Fairbault, Minnesota. 

Mr. Hughes evidences in this little manual the good results of careful observa- 
tion and a thorough study of the philosophy of instruction, and shows practically 
how to avoid the mistakes young and inexperienced teachers are liable to make. 
In this book he has condensed an immense amount of sound advice. We advise 
every teacher to invest fifty cents in the purchase of this useful voiume.—JVeir 
England Journal of Editcaiion. 

It will help any teacher to read this book and tind out his own mistak«s with a 
view toward corrtCting them. — New York School Jo am al. 

All young teachers will find the book a help in their wurk— one of the best t(» 
be \\sn\.— Educational liWk-l//. 

We know of no book containing more valuable suggestions to teachers — O'ntrnl 
School Journal. 

It contains nioreh'nts of practical value to teachers than any book of its si/,*- 
known to us. — Ohio Educational Monthli/. 

Clearly presented and distinctly expressed, and cannot fail to be useful to any 
young teacher — The Schoolmaster, London. 

Admirably executed. — Educational Times, London. 

In the elementary work of the first year in didactics, Mistakes in Teaching 
has been recommended. It is believed that "the first step toward progress in any 
department of wi-rk is to learn to avoid the mistakes one is liable to make. 
Young teachers, hefore they begin to teach, should know the rocks that lie in 
their course." A hundred common and almost universal errors in school man- 
agement, discipline, method, and manner, are here pointed out and corrected. — 
Prof. S. N. Fello/fs, Iowa University, in article on Normal Institutes, /<>(/■« 
Normal Monthly, 

In accordance with the above recommendation, more than EIGHTEEN 
THOUSAND copies have been ordered for the Iowa Ceunty Institutcfi. 



PREFACE, 



"There is and there can be no teaching, 
where the attention of the scholar is not 
secured. The teacher who fails to get the 
attention of his scholars, fails totally." So 
writes a thoughtful educator, and every 
observant teacher knows that the state- 
ments are correct. The most important 
work of a teacher both in regard to the 
learning of school lessons and the forma- 
tion of proper mental habits by his pupils, 
is the development i)f the power to give 
concentrated and sustained attention to a 
subject. 

While fully agreeing with the opinion 
that natural aptitude has much to do 
in deciding the measure of a teacher's 
success, the author knows that the power 
of securing and retaining attention can be 
acquired and developed. This book has 
been written with a sincere desire to aid 
in the accomplishment of this important 
object. 

Toronto, February 20th, 1880. 



CONTENTS 



Chap. Pace. 

I. Kinds of Attention - - - 5 

II. Characteristics of Positive Attention 8 

III. Characteristics of the Teacher in 

securing and retaining Attention 24 

IV. Conditions ol Attention - ■ - 30 

V. How to control a class ... 36 

VI. Method of preserving and stimulating 

the pupils' desire for knowledge 45 

VII. How to gratify and develop the natu- 
ral desire for knowledge - - 57 

VIII. The cultivation of the Senses - 72 

IX. General Suggestions ... g6 



HOW TO SECURE 
AND RETAIN ATTENTION 



CHAPTER I. 



KINDS OF ATTENTION. 



Attention may be Negative or Positive. 

Negative Attention. A pupil may look 
without seeing, listen without being con- 
scious of hearing, and hear without com- 
prehending. He may sit and dream. The 
mind has inner as well as outer gates. The 
outer gates admit merely to the courtyard 
of the mind. A great many pupils keep 
the inner doors closed to much of the 
teaching done by their teachers. We may 
perceive without receiving distinct con- 
ceptions. Thousands look at a store win- 



6 HOW TO SECURK AND 

dow in passing it without being able to 
name or even give the color of a single 
article in it. 

We may hear also without taking in the 
thoughts of the person speaking. How 
often men sit in church and hear a preach- 
er's voice without noting his words ! The 
sounds he makes gets through the gates of 
the castle wall, but the castle itself is shut 
and filled with otiier tenants. The tele- 
phonic key has not been adjusted, and 
direct conimunication has not been estab- 
lished. We hear various sounds — the bell 
of the factory or the school, the whistle of 
the steam engine, the song of the birds, 
&c. — without always being conciously im- 
pressed by them. Sometimes they influ- 
ence or arrest our lines of thought, but 
more frequently, unless they convey a spe- 
cial message to us, we allow them to pass 
unheeded. Negative attention consists 
in the outward marks of attention merely. 
It is a form without reality; a seed without 
an active germ, from which nothing of life 
and beauty can ever spring. 



RETAIN ATTENTIOX. 7 

Positive Attention. A pupil who gives 
positive or active attention, is attentive not 
merely with his body but with his mind. 
He has the inner as well as the outer gates 
of his mind open. His mind must be will- 
ing to receive the thoughts his teacher has 
to communicate, and it must not be preoc- 
cupied, ox actively engaged with other thoughts. 
He must for a time forget his personality, 
and turn from thoughts of his own plays 
and work and all that directly interests 
him outside of the lesson. He must get 
out of his own current of thought and into 
that of his teacher. 

Positive attention stands opposed to that 
rambling state of mind in which the 
thoughts move continually from one topic 
to another without dwelling upon any; and 
also to that apathetic and listless condition 
of the mind in which it is not conscious of 
thought; or in which ideas, if they exist, 
leave no trace in the memory. It is the 
kind of attention which a teacher must 
have from his pupils if he wishes to im- 
press them. If he secures only negative^ 
the minds of his scholars may be a thous- 
and miles away, whilst their bodies may 
occupy positions of reverent attention. 



CHAPTER II. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF POSITIVE ATIENTION 



1. Positive Attention may be eitlier 
instinctive or controlled. 

Instinctive attention. Attention may 
be won or directed, attracted or guided. 
Pupils may give attention to a subject be- 
cause they are interested in it, or because 
thev are convinced that they will receive 
benefit from so attending. We attend to 
many things without effort, and even in 
opposition to our wishes. Those things 
which give us either pleasure or pain de- 
mand and receive our attention in propor- 
tion to the intensity of the interest they 
have for us. The little child gives atten- 
tion because it is a delight to do so. It 
attends to one thing until another becomes 
more attractive. " Observation, attention, 
concentration, last so long as enjoyment 



POSITIVE ATTENTION. 9 

lasts and no longer." The mind of the lit- 
tle one flies like the bee from flower to 
flower, and it gets something every time it 
alights. The child does not pass from ob- 
ject to object for the sake of information 
however, but on account of the beauty and 
attractiveness of the things themselves. 
Nevertheless it gathers the knowledge 
more easily and more rapidly than it does 
afterwards, even when the acquisition of 
knowledge is its direct object. The child 
learns more between the ages of two and a 
half and four years than it does during any 
five years afterwards. He has learned a 
language, and speaks it correctly both as 
regards grammar and pronunciation, if he 
has listened to good speaking. He is inti- 
mately acquainted with the worlds of na- 
ture and of art so far he has come in con- 
tact with them. He knows the relations 
of things to each other and to himself. He 
cannot explain, but he puts in practice the 
principles of philosophy. He is even capa- 
ble to a far greater extent than he usually 
gets credit for, of estimating and appreciat- 
ing the motives as well as the actions of 
the adults bv whom he is surrounded. 



lO HOW TO SECURE AND 

He could not have learned thus rapidly, 
if it had not been for the power of instinc- 
tive attention, the intensity of which in a 
child is so great as to require but a short 
time to gather ideas. Teachers will do 
well to note carefully, not only the marvel- 
lous rapidity with which knowledge is ac- 
quired in early years, but the distinctness 
and permanency of ideas received in the 
days of childhood. Many parents and 
teachers complain of the flightiness of 
children, and their lack of continuity in 
giving fixed attention to a subject. If 
these wise grumblers would only reflect, 
they would find that this tendency to pay 
attention to whatever gives the highest 
degree of joy or pain is a characteristic of 
childhood impressed by our Creator. The 
results alread}' noted clearly prove that it 
is not necessary to give long continued so 
much as oft repeated attention to a subject 
in order to become acquainted with it. 
The clearness and permanency of ideas 
depends on the interest and intensity of 
attention rather than its continuance. If 
the best teachers could only succeed in 
making children learn one half as rapidly 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 11 

during school days as they did in their 
homes or in the fields and woods before 
school life began, they would have great 
reason to congratulate themselves. 

Why do children not continue to mani- 
fest the same degree of interested or in- 
stinctive attention through life, that they 
showed in early years.'' Is the change due 
to an altered mental nature, or is it caused 
by improper methods of teaching ? Partly 
to both, but mainly to the latter. Profes- 
sor Payne says, " It is certain, that there 
are processes of so-called education in 
vogue amongst us which, by the assiduous 
cultivation of mere rote memory, convert 
teaching into a mechanical grind of words, 
and thus defeat the very aim of true edu- 
cation, which is to store the mind with 
ideas, and only to recognize words as far 
as they minister to this end. The lament- 
able results of such methods which make 
much provision for feeding and none for 
digestion is to ruin irreparably the appetite 
for knowledge — the knowledge which con- 
sists in ideas not words. Hence it is that 
we see children, who in their earliest years 



12 HOW TO SECURE AND 

were distinguished for mental ability 
transformed into dunces at school — a con- 
sequence obviously due to what is mis- 
called their education; for the number of 
children really stupid by nature is proba- 
bly not at all greater than that of those 
born blind, or deaf and dumb." 

There is one fundamental difference be- 
tween the natural method and the school 
method of teaching, which is worthy of 
careful thought by teachers. Before school 
the learning has not been the direct object 
aimed at. Ithasbeen u/e/defz/cr/. The child 
was attracted by something and he watched 
it, or handled it, or used it, in order to add 
to his happiness. He was not attending to 
lessons merely, but he learned them thor- 
oughly, as the result of his doing. School 
work cannot all be done on this principle, 
but it should be done so as far as possible. 
There v/ill be enough "drudgery" under 
the most favorable circumstances to serve 
for mentJil disciple. 

Froebel in his Kindergarten system has 
sought to utilize the instinctive attention of 
children to the fullest extent. He recoe- 



RETAIN ATTFlXilOX. I3 

nizes the immense rapidity and value of 
the development of even the infant mind, 
and sets to work with the idea of systema- 
tizing the child's work without any sense 
curtailing his enjoyment. He consequent- 
ly brings him in contact with a carefully 
graded series of objects and occupations 
which are most attractive to him, and at 
the same time are admirably suited to the 
growth of his observant and reflective 
powers. He also allows him to have ample 
opportunity for unrestrained but directed 
pla}'. There are some who, having merely 
"■/rt;;/f(?^/ theoretically or practically at the 
surface of Kindergarten work, wisely ex- 
press the opinion that it is "only play." 
It is scarcely honest for a man to give 
oracular decisions with such a small 
amount of investigation. There would not 
be much gold in the Kindergarten system, 
if a casual and unprofessional observer 
could find it all in a few minutes. The 
truth is that the Kindergarten system, by 
extending the period of instinctive, involun- 
tary attention, has done a great deal towards 
the bridging over of the great gulf between 



14 HOW TO SECURE AND 

the home and the school. What is needed 
in addition is the strengthening and com- 
pletion of the bridge at its school end. In 
some subjects the Kindergarten system 
should be carried out even in universities. 

Controlled Attention. Bain says, "The 
beginnings of knowledge are in activity or 
in pleasure, but the culminating point is in 
the power of attending to things in them- 
selves indijf event P It must not be forgotten 
that while instincthr or attracted ^iiiQni'xon is 
the most effective kind in gaining knowl- 
edge, controlled or directed attention is ot 
more importance as a mental discipline. 
All studies cannot be made so attractive 
that students will prosecute them with 
ardor on account of the delight they afford. 
Different minds are fond of studying dif- 
ferent subjects. Study may be a species of 
mental dissipation. As children grow 
older, therefore, they should be introduced 
gradually to those subjects which are less 
attractive. The mistake that is too often 
made in both public and Sunday schools 
is to expect young children to attend to 



RETAIN ATTENTION. I3 

the teaching of subjects to which they are 
indifferent. To do this requires the exer- 
cise of a will power which they do not 
possess. Dr. Carpenter expresses himself 
very clearly on this point. He says, 
" Those strong-minded teachers who object 
to these modes of 'making things pleasant' 
as an unworthy and undesirable ' weak- 
ness ' are ignorant that in the stage of the 
child-mind, the will^ that is the power of 
self control, \s weak, and that the primary 
object of education is to encourage and 
strengthen, not to repress that po,wer ''' * 
To punish a child for the want of obedi- 
ence which it has not the power to render, 
is to inflict an injury which may almost 
be said to be irreparable." 

It will not do on the other hand to allow 
the child to grow up with the idea that 
none of the problems of lite arenninviting 
in themselves. The teacher should fit his 
pupils for grappling with and mastering 
difficulties, even with what is distasteful. 
One of the most important of all the men- 
tal powers is the will; and it must be 
called into action in fixing: the attention 



l6 HOW TO SECURE AM) 

to these subjects that cannot be made 
attractive. "God has given us the power 
or capacity to direct the mind to any given 
object — that is, of directing, controlling, 
and in any way using the several mental 
faculties of which we are possessed: just 
as we have a like power over the various 
members of the body." Let this power be 
developed, but let the teacher carefully 
avoid depending upon compulsory atten- 
tion as a snbstitute for good teaching." 

2. Positive attention is a *' result of 
j?ood teaching rather tlian a condition 
on which the power to teach well de- 
pends.'" Those effeminate or fossilized 
teachers who weakly say " Oh, dear ! if 
my pupils would only ^/?'d' me their atten- 
tion, I could teach them so well," should 
honestly say, " If I taught better, my class 
would attend to my teaching." 

3. Positive attention cannot be se- 
cured by demanding it, or by coaxing, 
scolding, commanding, threatening, or 
reasoning. The maxim, '• One man may 

lead a horse to the water, but ten men can- 



RETAIN ATTENTION. If 

not wake him drink," applies with great 
force here. Negative attention may be se- 
cured by compulsion, positive cannot be 
forced. We can force order, and submis- 
sion, but not active attention. It must be 
willingly given. He who demands some- 
thing entirely beyond the limits of his con- 
trol, demonstrates his own weakness and 
presumption. Coaxing, scolding, com- 
manding and threatening very soon lose 
their influence, and, if indulged in after 
that point has been reached, they secure 
for the teachers who use them the disre- 
spect of their pupils. Even reasoning 
with pupils cannot permanently secure 
attention. It will certainly be of service 
for the teacher to show his pupils clearly 
the necessity for attention, and the benefits 
arising from it. This will produce in them 
a mental attitude favorable to attention,^ 
and will thereby make it easier for them to 
do their part; but it does not relieve the 
teacher of his responsibility for sustaining 
the interest in the lesson. 

4. Positive attention should be undi- 
vided. Some children have difficulty in 



16 HOW TO SECURE AND 

concentrating their attention. Their minds 
do not merely pass rapidly from one thing 
to another; two or three subjects of an en- 
tirely different nature will occupy them at 
the same time. It is possible for a man to 
give his attention to two things at once, 
but the attention given to one of them is 
taken from the other. It is one of the 
highest duties which a teacher owes to his 
pupils to train them to be able to fix their 
undivided attention on one subject. The 
extent to which a man can rivet his atten- 
tion, and control the working of his own 
mind, decides the standard of his intel- 
lectual power. The force of a stream be- 
comes resistless as its channel becomes 
restricted. The genial rays of the sun 
when brought to a focus have intense 
burning power. The mind which admits 
various subjects at the same time, and as a 
result becomes confused and full of but 
instinct ideas, might, if all its energies 
were directed to the investigation of only 
one subject, mount with majestic tread 
from height to height in original investi- 
gation. 



RETAIN ATTENITON. I9 

It is a difficult matter, however, even for 
adults to concentrate their attention on 
the one subject in hand. How often the 
thoughts which we hear expressed, or 
which we read, make no deeper impres- 
sions on our minds than the " shadows of 
the passing clouds do upon a landscape.'' 
A teacher should pe patient when he finds 
some active brained boy or girl is in 
^'wonderland," when he is supposed to be 
revelling in the delights of complex frac- 
tions. It is often injurious to a very young 
child to startle it from its reveries. Men- 
tal links may thus be broken which will 
never be re-united. Thifi remark should, 
however, be noted by parents and teachers 
of individuals, rather than by teachers of 
classes. 

5. Positive attentiou should l)e in- 
tense. The permanency of impressions 
made upon the mind by the teacher or by 
circumstances depends upon the intensity 
of the attention given. Some single events 
have burned their impress upon the tablets 
of our memory, so that they can never be 
forgotten. It matters not whether the cir- 



20 HOW TO SECURE AND 

cumstances have caused intense joy or 
pain, if the sensations they caused have 
been acute, their remembrance remains 
vivid. There are few who would not for- 
get some things, if they could. Why is it 
that we cannot torget some things ? Sim- 
ply because they interested us so much. 
We walk through the streets of a city and 
we look into the faces of thousands of 
strangers. Why is it that of all these per- 
haps but one is photographed indelibly in 
our remembrance ? Because it reminded 
us of some other person closely connected 
with our lives by the links of love or hate, 
or because for some reason it strongly 
attracted or repelled us. We look at and 
admire the beautiful tlowers which bloom 
around our pathway as we ramble in the 
woods or gardens in the early summer 
time. We perchance may gather boquets 
of those we deem most exquisitely beauti- 
ful. A month afterwards we may not 
remember the varieties we collected or the 
precise localities in the woods or gardens 
from which we plucked them. Let a com- 
panion who has roused in us a strong deep 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 2 1 

feeling either of love or respect, pick and 
present one blossom to us, and we remem- 
ber exactly its hues and shape, as well as 
the very spot on which the presentation 
took place. Numerous other illustrations 
might be given, were they necessary to 
show that when the attention \s intense, the 
impressions made are distinct and lasting. 
Teachers should therefore strive to se- 
cure a large degree of intensity of atten- 
tion on the part of their pupils. This may 
not be possible in every part of every les- 
son, but there should at least be some part 
of every lesson which will arrest the invol- 
untary attention of every pupil. If only 
one flower be clearly pictured in the mem- 
ory, that one serves to recall the ramble 
and its pleasures. If some salient or cul- 
minating point in a lesson be illustrated, 
or presented in an impressive or even 
startling manner so as to condense the 
attention on it, it will form a magnet 
around which the other facts taught will 
group themselves. Bain says, " Intensity 
of sensation whether pleasing or not is a 
power." Of course it would be unwise to 



22 HOW TO SECURE AND 

try to keep the attention constantly 
strained to too great an extent. The 
effects of such a course both physically 
and mentally would be disastrous. 

6. Positive attention sliould be fixed. 

Startling a class to make them attend is 
not a wise course. Some teachers try an 
explosive method of securing attention. 
They first helplessly allow the class to 
drift into a state of disorder and confu- 
sion, and then suddenly comes a thunder- 
clap; the desk is struck violently with a 
ruler, or the floor is stamped upon heav- 
ily. Attention may be gained in such a 
way, but only of a temporary kind. The 
noise of the pupils yields for a time, but 
very soon it reasserts itself. Attention to 
be valuable must be fixed. Teachers 
should, of course, never forget that giving 
fixed, active attention is an exhaustive tyitr- 
cise, and that relaxation in some form — 
music, free gymnastics, or both. combined 
— should be given to pupils at frequent 
intervals. 

The attention which the teacher should 
try to secure should therefore be: 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 23 

1. Active. 

2. Instinctive or Controlled ; if pos- 

sible the former. It should be won 
rather than forced. 

3. Willingly given. 

4. Undivided. 

5. Intense. 

6. Fixed. 



CHAPTER III. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TEACHER ESSEN- 
TIAL IN SECURING AND RETAIN- 
ING ATTENTION. 



1. Cheerfulness. Unless the teacher 
be cheerful and kind in manner he cannot 
secure the sympathy of his pupils thor- 
oughly, and without it he cannot obtain 
proper attention. The pupils insensibly 
associate the teacher with the subjects 
taught, and unless attracted by the former 
they are not likely to be interested in the 
latter. 

2. Earnestness. The teacher's manner 
will influence his pupils for good more 
than his precepts or advice They may 
laugh at his logic, they cannot resist his 
personal power. If a man is not in earn- 
est his pupils will not be zealous. He jus- 



ENTHUSIASM. 25 

tifies inattention, if he does not speak and 
act in such a way as to show that he re- 
gards his subjects to be of great import- 
ance. 

3. Enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is well 
directed energy: not mere excitement or 
assumed animation. Enthusiasm must 
spring from a genuine fervent desire for 
the accomplishment of a well understood 
purpose. Enthusiasm in teaching must 
grow from a love for the work, a thorough 
acquaintance with the subjects to be 
taught, and a deep conviction of the great 
value of education in forming the charac- 
ters and securing the success of his pupils. 
Some one says, '• Enthusiastic men are 
narrow." Perhaps they are to a certain 
extent, but narrowing a man's energies to 
his legitimate work is the most essential 
foundation for his success. The teacher 
should widen his mental range, and concen- 
trate his energies and his emotional nature. 
" Enthusiasm is not a reckless zeal with- 
out knowledge ; neither is it that overplus 
of feeling or action that^^wdoes the work, 
but ////does the worker. But it does con- 



20 HOW TO SECURE AND 

sist in the combination of a high apprecia- 
tion of the importance ot your work, and 
a hearty zeal in the accomplishment of 
that work. Fanaticism is zeal without 
knowledge; indifference is no zeal what- 
ever; enthusiasm is a zeal tempered by 
prudence, modified by knowledge. Indif- 
ference chills; enthusiasm warms and 
quickens. A teacher without enthusiasm 
has no right to be a teacher. He cannot 
be one in the truest and broadest sense 
without it." 

4. Quietness. Some teachers act as 
though noise and bustle were equivalent 
to energy and enthusiasm. The mighty 
Corliss Engine in Machinery Hall at the 
Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in 
1876, made less noise than almost any of 
the hundreds of machines which it set in 
motion. So in the schoolroom, the teacher 
should be the great motive power, mighty 
without being noisy, which sets the human 
machines around him to work for themselves. 
" Noise and'emptiness often travel togeth- 
er." Noisy teachers make noisy pupils. 
Some teachers are so nois)' and demonstra- 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 2"] 

live that they attract attention to them- 
selves and not to the subjects they are 
teaching. If teachers speak in a loud 
tone, and in a high key their pupils can- 
not listen to them long. Inattention and 
consequent disorder always mark the 
classes taught by piping teachers. 

5. Decision. The teacher's every act, 
look and tone should clearly indicate deci- 
sion. He mvist wear the dignity of his 
superior position as though it fitted hijii 
well. He must understand himself and 
his subjects. There must be no assump- 
tion in his bearing. There is a magnetic 
force connected with a man who has defi- 
niteness of aim and deliberation in action. 
The will power of such a man is irresisti- 
ble in its influence over those with whom 
he comes in contact. This is true even 
when they are of his own age; it is true to 
a greater extent when they are his juniors. 

(>. Power to maintain interest. The 

teacher must not be too wordy. Fluency 
often drowns thought. Pupils will not 
exercise their minds, if the teacher does 



28 HOW TO SECURE AND 

their thinking for them. The best way to 
make a subject interesting and attractive 
is to set the pupils to work at making dis- 
coveries concerning it. The wondrous 
caves and marvellous treasures of knowl- 
edge may be opened and pointed out by 
the teacher, but they should be investi- 
gated by the pupils themselves. In some 
way, however, the interest must be kept 
up, and as far as possible the subjects 
taught should be made attractive in them- 
selves, without reference to the benefits 
they confer. As has been explained al- 
ready, the permanency of impressions de- 
pends upon the intensity of the attention 
given; it is equally true that intensity of 
attention depends upon the interest taken 
in the subject itself. 

7. The possession of "will power." 

Control is a necessary element in secur- 
ing attention. The most perfect control 
can secure only negative attention, but this 
is an essential condition of positive atten- 
tion. The teacher should have no diffi- 
culty in convincing his class that some 
one person must be the controlling power 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 29 

in the school, and that his age, experience 
and developed force of character eminently 
fit him for the position of unchallenged 
leader. The teacher who, when occasion 
demands it, has not the power to secure 
complete submission from his pupils by 
an arbitrary use of " will power " is unfit 
for his position. 



CHAPTER IV. 



CONDITIONS OF ATTENTION. 



1. Physical reciuisites. The room must 
be well lighted. Children cannot be bright 
and happy in a room that is insufficiently 
or badly lighted. The light should never 
come from the front or the right of pupils. 
It is best when admitted only from the left, 
but a left and rear light is admissible. All 
windows should reach well up towards the 
ceiling, and they should not extend too 
low down. It is better when all the light 
is admitted above the level of the eye. 

2. The room must be properly ventilated. Un- 
less it is, the health of the children is in- 
juriously affected, and their spirits are de- 
pressed. 

3. The temperature inust be regulated. Pu- 
pils cannot be quiet and studious when 



PHYSICAL REIJUISITES. 3I 

their toes and fingers are cold. They be- 
come tired and indolent if the tempera- 
ture rises too high. Cold feet and hot 
heads at the same time are bad for the 
health in many respects. The normal 
temperature is about 65 degrees. 

4. TJie pupils iiiusf be seated ctviifortably. 
The two essentials for comfort are — 

1. The seats must not be too high. 

2. The back should fit the pupil's spinal 
curvature. 

A child's feet should rest on the floor, 
so that no part of the weight of the leg is 
borne by the thigh bone. Many seats have 
backs too high, others are too low, and 
sometimes the seats in galleries have no 
backs at all. Either arrangement is a 
cause of pain to the children who sit on 
such seats. 

5 . CIiild)-en sJioiiId be allowed to change their 
posture f}-equeutly. The body tires sooner 
than the mind. Even if supplied with 
comfortable seats, remaining in one posi- 
tion too long causes injury to the body, 
and compels the withdrawal of the mind 



32 HOW TO SECURE AND 

from the lesson, to note the necessities of 
physical comfort. 

If the teacher notices his pupils unusu- 
ally restless and inattentive, he should 
allow them to spend say half a minute in 
some simple physical exercises. Evert 
standing up and sitting down will aid in 
removing listlessness, and the disorder 
resulting from nervous restlessness. Exer- 
cises should always, if possible, be per- 
formed in time with music. They then 
form the most powerful and, what is of 
more importance the most /lafieral disci- 
plinary agent a teacher can employ. 

2.. Good classification. Proper classi- 
fication promotes attention in two ways. 
Unless the pupils in a class are graded 
according to their attainments, the sub- 
jects and methods adapted to the advance- 
ment and capabilities of one portion will 
be quite unsuited to the other. It is com- 
paratively useless to try to steer a middle 
course. The more advanced will not give 
good attention because they think they are 
acquainted with the subject already, the 
more backward will usually fail to give 



RETAIN ATTENTION. ^3 

close attention from sheer inability to 
keep up and clearly comprehend the 
teaching. Judicious grading also enables 
the teacher to secure a proper alternation 
of lessons on the programme of study, an-^ 
to carry out the time table without waste 
of time. 

3. GrOOd Order. Order is an essential 
prelimary step in securing and retaining 
attention. Attention cannot be concen- 
trated and intense, except under favor- 
ble circumstances. Disorder, unnecessary 
movement, bustle, confusion, chattering, 
and even whispering, distract the atten- 
tion. Those who talk must themselves be 
inattentive, and they prevent attention on 
the part ot those to whom they speak. A 
recent American writer says : " Silence is 
the basis for the culture of internality or 
reflection — the soil in which thought 
grows. It allows the repose of the senses 
and the awakening of insight and reflec- 
tion. In our schools this is carried further 
than merely negative silence and the pupil 
is taught the difficult but essential habit of 
absorption in his proper task even when 



34 HOW TO SECURE AND 

a lively recitation is going on with another 
class. He mlist acquire the strength of 
mind (of internality) which will enable 
him to pursue without distraction his 
train of thought and study, under any ex- 
ternal conditions. Out of this discipline 
grow attention, memory, thought — the 
three factors of theoretic culture." 

The teacher must carefully guard against 
the mistake ot supposing that order and 
attention are equivalent. A class may be 
very orderly, and at the same time in a 
state of mental inactivity. Order and at- 
tention are quite distinct, but closely re- 
lated to each other. Order is indispensa- 
ble in securing attention; attention is abso- 
lutely requisite in maintaining order. 

4. Full Control. While order should 
be maintained by giving the pupils plenty 
of work to engage their attention, it fre- 
quently becomes necessary to secure it by 
direct controlling power. To influence 
his pupils properly a teacher must first 
learn to control them. In teaching them- 
to apply themselves to the study of sub- 
jects " indifferent," or uninteresting; in 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 35 

forming habits of mental attention for 
benefit rather than pleasure; in developing 
the will power ot pupils; and the teach- 
er's mind must assume not only a guiding 
but a governing function. It is of course 
true that the minds of the pupils may in- 
fluence that of the teacher, but the extent 
to which this is true depends almost en- 
tirely on the teacher himself. Four things 
settle the question of mental control be- 
tween the teacher and the taught. 

1. The natural strength of the teacher's 
mind. 

2. His force of character. 

3. The interest he takes in his work. 

4. The clearness of his conception of 
the subjects he desires to teach. 

The weak, careless, indolent teacher, 
who has not thoroughly prepared the spe- 
cial lesson he has to teach, will not be a 
controlling power to a very large extent. 



CHAPTER V. 



HOW TO CONTROL A CLASS. 



It is clear from what has already been 
said that gaining control is a totally differ- 
ent matter from SQCxxring attentiofi. Atten- 
tion includes control, however, and it is 
therefore necessary that a teacher should 
control his pupils as a basis for obtaining 
attention from them. This he may do as 
follows : 

1. By Sttanding or sitting so as to see 
his whole class. If a pupil feels that his 
teacher's eye is constantly and quietly tak- 
ing note of all that is going on in his 
class, he cannot fail to be conscious of its 
controlling power. Unless he is defiant or 
exceedingly thoughtless he will need little 
more than the teacher's untiring eye to re- 
strain him. The eye can be cultivated and 



INATTENTION. 37 

its range of vision greatly widened. Few 
teachers have the power to see and ivatch 
every pupil in a class of fifty at the same 
instant, but every teacher may acquire the 
ability to do so. It is astonishing to what 
extent clearness of lateral vision may be 
developed, without rolling the eyes from 
side to side. An uneasy, nervous move- 
ment of the eyes, or a fixed stare neutrali- 
ses the influence they might exert. The 
seeing should be done without any appar- 
ent effort, but it should be done, and done 
unerringly. Even when using the black- 
board the teacher should avoid turning 
his back to his class. " The eye has a 
magic power. It wins, it fascinates, it 
guides, it rewards, it punishes, it controls. 
You must learn how to see every child all the 
time." 

2. luatteutioii must be noticed and 
checked in time. It is an epidemic, 
which may be easily controlled in its in- 
cipient stage. The fire that sweeps away 
in a breath the proudest structures of a 
mighty city might have been quenched 
with a few drops of water. It is madness 



38 HOW TO SECURE AND 

to allow a wave of disorder to roll on and 
on until it has engulfed a whole class, and 
then attempt to break its force by a coun- 
ter disorder of greater violence. " A stitch 
in time saves nine " is as true in school as 
in other places. The inattention of one 
pupil in a large class, if of such a negative 
character as not to attract the attention of 
others, sometimes may be allowed to pass 
unnoticed. It may cost too much to se- 
cure the attention of such a pupil. The 
whole class may be diverted from the sub- 
juct under consideration in doing so, and 
a positive evil substituted for a negative. 
The class should not be sacrificed for the 
individual. He may be informed at the 
close of the lesson, or before passing to a 
new line of thought, that his negligence 
has been noticed. This will soon cure 
him, and it will at the same time impress 
the rest of the class with the idea that the 
teacher regards their attention as of such 
vital importance as to avoid allowing any- 
thing unnecessarily to interrupt it. They 
will learn the importance of giving atten- 
tion from his actions and manners more 



RETAIN ATTEXTIOX. 39 

clearly than from his words. But as soon 
as passive inattention develops into the 
first symptoms of disorder, action must be 
taken instantly. How should this action 
betaken? In the quietest possible man- 
ner. The cure of the affected portion 
should be made without injury to any 
other part. If the teacher's object is to 
startle the whole class and completely dis- 
sipate their attention from the subject in 
hand, he should scold the offender or strike 
the desk, or stamp on the floor, or snap- 
pishly demand " attention." If he wishes 
to gain the attention of the careless pupil 
without allowing- any one else to know 
that he has been inattentive, he can usually 
do so in one of the following ways: 

1. By briefly pausing in the lesson. 

2. By a quiet movement of the hand or 
head. 

3. By a significant glance. 

4. By giving a question to the wandering 
one. 

With a fair degree of tact the remedy 
may be applied without loss of time to any 
but the pupil immediately concerned. 



40 HOW TO SECURE AND 

It is very desirable that the class should 
be saved from interruptions by the teacher 
himself. The interruptions referred to are 
the worst possible, for they not only cause 
loss of time and distraction of attention, 
but they lead the whole class to believe 
that inattention is a very common, and 
therefore not a very grave offence. 

3. By calm, fixed, fearless, deter- 
mined, patient " will power." Every 
teacher should exercise "willpower" in 
relation to his class. It should never be 
exercised haughtily or tyrannically, but 
always kindly and naturally. Wilfulness 
and self-will are very different from " will 
power." " Will power " simply means the 
ability to proceed undeviatingly to a de- 
sired end, and bring others along with you. 
The following are the characteristics which 
" will power " should possess: 

I. // should be calm. Obedience on any 
terms is better than disobedience, but wil- 
ling obedience must be secured by the 
teacher if he wishes to benefit his pupils. 
If "will power" is exerted in a noisy or 
violent manner it is offensive; if it is of the 



RETAIN ATTENTION, 4I 

fussy kind it excites ridicule. It must be 
calm if it would secure control, beneath 
the placid surface of which no rebellion 
lurks in ambush. 

2. It should be fixed.- Some teachers are 
intermittent in their exercise of " will 
power." They are fully charged with 
energy and force one day, but seem to 
have lost connection with their character 
batteries on the next. Steady, even, regu- 
lar, uniform control is the kind required. 
In the schoolroom and in the yard the 
teacher's influence should be supreme, 
whether he is present or absent. He must 
never be a tyrant, he should always be a 
governor. 

3. J t should be fearless. No one can con- 
trol a pupil if he fears him or his parents. 
The -teacher should carefully study his 
proper social a^nd legal relationship to the 
pupils, their parents, and the school author- 
ities.* He should stand on a foundation of 
solid rock, and be ready for prompt action 
in cases of emergency. Promptness and 

*Bardeen's" Common School Law for Common School 
Teachers," 50 cts., is the standard authority, and covers 
the ground completely. 



42 HOW TO SECURE AND 

deliberation should go hand in hand. 
Promptitude and haste or excitement 
are not synonymous. Hesitation and 
timidity on the part of a teacher often stir 
to life germs of rebellion which might 
otherwise have been left to die for lack of 
nutriment. 

4. It should be determined. While a teach- 
er should always pay due respect and atten- 
tion to the advice of friends, he should 
never allow either the counsel of his 
friends or the opposition of foes to make 
him deviate from the course which he 
knows to be the right and just one. Many 
men tail because when a wave of opposi- 
tion meets them they feebly yield to its 
power and aimlessly drift with it; when if 
they had met it bravely and remained firm 
it would soon have passed them and left 
tiiem better for its washing. The teacher 
may yield many times with profit to his 
school and to himself if he does it grace- 
fully, but he can never do so when the 
question of control is at stake. He must 
then assert his '* will power " in a most de- 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 43 

lermined manner, without making liimself 
offensive or being tyrannical. 

5. It must be patient. This is the great 
requisite. The quality of " will power " is 
of great importance, the quantity of it at a 
teacher's disposal is of far more conse- 
quence. It must wear well. There is a 
dignity and a majesty in the patient asser- 
tion of the right and ability to control, . 
which never fails to command respect. It 
is well, especially when takingcharge ofa 
new class, not to try to compel absolute 
order too suddenly. So long as pupils- 
are really trying to do what the teacher 
wishes, he will, if a reasonable man, over- 
look slight offences until good conduct 
has become a habit. 

Control asserts itself chieffy through the 
lip, the tongue, and the eye. They should be 
used in the inverse order to that in which 
they are named. The eye should be the 
exclusive medium of control, so far as 
possible; the tongue may be called to its 
aid in cases of emergency; the lip should 
be used very sparingly. The lip expresses 
firmness, combined with scorn or con-. 



44 POWER OF THE EYE. 

tempt, and these are sure to stir up active 
antagonism, rather than submission, A 
pupil may be, and often is, forced to yield 
without full obedience. The eye alone 
can convey a message of power and con- 
ciliation at the same time, and these are 
the elements of genuine control. 

However good a teacher's control may 
be, he must not think that he has secured 
the attention of his class merely on that 
account. 



CHAPTER VI. 



METHODS OF PRESERVING AND STIMULATING 
THE PUPIES' DESIRE FOR KNOWL- 
EDGE. 



Some one calls a child an " Interroga- 
tive machine." Truly the appetite for 
knowledge with which nature endows him 
is a keen one, and difficult to satisfy. Some 
writers maintain that it is the duty of the 
school to set the child going mentally, that 
he may be -self-educative when he leaves 
school. If pupils left school in as self- 
educative a condition as they enter it, 
there would be less ground for complaint 
than at present. The boy begins to " go " 
when very young, and for a few years he 
continues to develop at a very rapid rate. 
Very few children are dull when very 
young. Most children make remarkable 



46 HOW TO SECURE AND 

progress until tliey go to school. Then 
too often comes a period of stagnation 
from which many never emerge. Improper 
methods are too often the cause of the dis- 
couraging change. The following are 
points deserving consideration by teach- 
ers of primary classes. 

1. The transition from the home to 
the school slionld be less sndden. 

The child on entering an ordinary 
school, passes from comparative freedom 
to confinement and restraint; from bound- 
ing activity to wearisome quiet; from ac- 
tual things to uninteresting abstractions;, 
from living flowers, and birds, and pets, to 
mere black marks called letters, in which 
for themselves he can have no active inter- 
est; from play to work; from instinctive 
to compulsory attention; from fresh air 
and sunshine to bad ventilation and im- 
perfect and often injurious lighting; from 
the mossy bank to the hard and ill-formed 
seat. 

Where the Kindergarten can be intro- 
duced it serves to made the steps gradual 
in the chana^e from the home to the school. 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 47 

The school should learn many lessons yet 
from the home and the Kindergarten. 
Teachers must study the child more before 
he enters school, and they should continue 
in school more closely, the methods of self- 
education practiced by him, while he was 
at liberty to follow nature's guidance. 

2. Knowledge should be used as it is 
acquired. Children delight in coming in 
contact with things which they can use. 
They care for what a thing does. This 
shows itself very early in life. The baby 
learning to talk, names the domestic ani- 
mals according to the sounds they make. 
He calls the dog "bow-wow," and the cat 
" meow." This is true ivhether the name 
of the animal is more or less difficult to 
say than the sound made. While they 
have been making such rapid strides in 
learning and mental development at home, 
they were doing so by handling the things 
around them and by using their knowledge 
as quickly as they gained it. What a 
change comes when they go to school I 
Many even of the thoughtful class of 
teachers deliberately reverse this plan. 



48 HOW TO SECURE AND 

They reason somewhat in this manner: 
" These children can not do much actual 
work yet and so v{e may as well save time 
by making them do the drudgery of school 
work now." They are therefore set to 
learn all the letters, before they begin to 
read, all the tables before they put them 
to any practical use etc. It is probable 
that the letters and the multiplication ta- 
ble have done more to stupefy boys and 
girls than any other causes. Girls and 
boys can work better, but become familiar 
with the elements of work they may be 
using. Even if the worst of all methods 
of teaching the names of words, the alpha- 
betic^ be used, no letters should be taught 
at first but those used on the first page or 
tablet oi reading in the primer. The child 
should use the multiplication table, for in- 
stance as he learns it, and he will thus 
pleasantly learn it as he uses it. Using 
and learning go hand in hand. Practical 
application is the higest and most effective 
style of review. A pupil will learn the 
" Two " line as far as " twice 4 " in tour 
minutes, but he will probably forget it in 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 49 

an hour, unless he is allowed to apply the 
knowledge he has gained. Why not teach 
him the procees of multiplying at once in 
five minutes more and set him at work ? 
'- Oh, the child should never multiply un- 
til he knows his multiplication table!" says 
some driller. Does the study of the mul- 
tiplication table qualify a child for the 
comprehension of the multiplying process? 
Certainly not. Then again, the child who 
has been taught as far as "twice four" 
does know the multiplication table, so far 
as he is required to put it in practice. 
His teacher can assign several examples 
with no other multiplier but 2, and no 
figures in the multiplicand but 1, 2, 3, and 
4. It will do him great good to work the 
very same examples over a second or third 
time. Next day advancement should be 
made in the table and much practice given 
on both lessons, and so on to the end. 
This method will not prove a source of hor- 
ror to pupils, but will delight them because 
they use the information as they get it. 

If an apprentice on entering a machine 
shop, were compelled by the foreman to 



50 HOW TO SECURE AND 

spend months in learning the names of the 
various machines, and their different parts, 
their relations to each other, their uses, 
etc., would such a course fit him to take 
charge of even one of the machines? The 
probability is, that long before the expira- 
tion of the time specified his work of learn- 
ing, at first fascinating to him, would be- 
come loathsome, and from loss of interest, 
he would be to a large degree incapaci- 
tated for the highest degree of success in 
his work. He should, and in charge of a 
practical man in any department of work 
he does, begin with the simplest of all the 
tools or machines, and he learns how to 
use it by using it. Others are entrusted 
to his charge when he is ready for them. 
Teachers should also be reasonable in 
familiarizing their pupils with the tools 
thev have to use. The letters, the tables, 
rules in grammar and other subjects, are 
merely the tools with which the child 
should be taught to educate himself, and 
they should be given to him only as he is 
able to use them. 

3. The work of school should attord 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 5I 

pleasure. If the desire for knowledge is 
to be kept alive and vigorous, if it is to 
survive through the early years of school 
life, school life must be made attractive. 
Herbert Spencer says that of all the educa- 
tional changes taking place, "the most 
significant is the growing desire to make 
the acquirement of knowledge pleasurable 
rather than painful — a desire based on the 
more or less distinct perception that at 
each age the intellectual action 7vhich a child 
likes is a healthful one for it; and conversely. 
There is a spreading opinion that the rise 
of an appetite for any kind of knowledge 
implies that the unfolding mind has be- 
come fit to assimilate it, and needs it for 
the purposes of growth; and that on the 
other hand, the disgust felt towards any 
kind of knowledge is a sign either that it 
is prematurely presented, or that it is pre- 
sented in an indigestible form. Hence 
the eftorts to make early education amus- 
ing, and all education interesting. * * As 
a final test by which to judge any plan of 
culture, should come the question — Does 
it create a pleasurable excitement in the 



52 HOW TO SECURE AND 

pupils? " Discard any system of primary 
instruction, however time honored or in 
accordance witli theory it may be, unless 
it makes lessons attractive. With the older 
children the step from instinctive to con- 
trolled attention must be gradually taken. 

It is very desirable that teachers should 
avoid any course of action which will tend 
to make learning distasteful. If men are 
to be self-educative when they leave school, 
they should have a love for knowledge; 
certainly they must not have an aversion 
to it. Lessons should never be assigned 
as a punishment. Pupils may be com- 
pelled to do after school or at home, work 
which they have neglected to do at the 
right time. This is not a punishment for 
the neglect however, but the performance 
of a duty which ought to have been done 
before. 

4. School exercises should be varied 
as much as possible. Of course the pro- 
gramme of studies should be fixed, and 
the time table adhered to regularly. The 
plan of presenting a subject should be 
changed, however. Some new element 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 53 

should be introduced each day. In teach- 
ing Geography, for instance, the map may 
be used one day, blackboard and slates the 
next, and the san^-box the next; to-day 
the teacher may point to the places he 
wishes to have remembered and the pupils 
find their names, to-morrow he may give 
the names and they find their positions on 
the map. The plan should be varied dur- 
ing a single recitation, to a certain extent. 
So long as variety does not dissipate the 
attention, there can not be too much of it. 
Freshness stimulates mental activity, rou- 
tine deadens it. 

5. The child's curiosity should be 
kept alive. Some pupils are on the tip- 
toe of expectation. The teacher who can 
secure such a condition in his class, is cer- 
tain to have attentive scholars. Natural 
aptitude in the teacher has something tO' 
do in stimulating the curiosity of pupils. 
The power to sustain it, however, must be 
acquired Pupils will not long seek to be 
fed with chaff. The teacher tnust be prepared 
to gratify the appetite ivhich he aims to develop. 
He must be familiar with the subjects he 



54 HOW TO SECURE AND 

has to teach; he should keep well acquaint- 
ed with all that relates to them in connec- 
tion with current events. Hart aptly says: 
" To real, successful teaching, there must 
be two things, namely, the ability to hold 
the minds of the children, and the ability 
to pour into the minds thus presented 
sound and seasonable instruction. Lack- 
ing the latter ability, your pupil goes 
away with his vessel unfilled; lacking the 
former, you only pour water on the 
ground." 

6. The lessons given and the subjects 
taught ought to he adapted to the ad- 
yancement of the pupils. If lessons are 
too difficult a child will naturally turn 
from them, first in disappointment; after- 
wards with dislike. The subjects should 
be presented in a manner suited to the 
ages of the pupils taught. Some of the 
most interesting studies are rendered per- 
manently obnoxious by improper methods 
of teaching them to children at first. In 
teaching grammar, for instance, dry, diffi- 
cult, and uninteresting rules, with puzz- 
ling exceptions to the general rtde, are memor- 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 55 

ized and recited, and the teacher (in addi- 
tion to this outrage) actually deceives the 
unfortunate and long-suffering pupils by 
allowing them to believe that such weari- 
some drudgery is learning grammar. 
They, ot course, in most cases, associate 
the unpleasant feelings they receive in 
-school with study and learning in the ab- 
stract, and therefore get a distaste for 
knowledge itself. Let the methods and the 
subjects be appropriate for the ages of the 
pupils, and their love of learning will con- 
tinue. 

7. The steps in learniiii? should not 
be too great. If a desire for knowledge 
is to be maintained, the pupil must be able 
to see clearly how one portion of a subject 
is connected with another. The step to be 
taken should be based on those already 
established, and the teacher should remem- 
ber that what appears but a mole-hill to 
him may be a mountain to his pupils. He 
is the best teacher who can most clearly 
remember his own early difficulties in 
learning. 



56 BRIEF LESSONS. 

8. Lessons must not be too long. This 
is true, both as regards lessons at school 
and those assigned for home preparation. 
Long-continued lessons in school weary 
the mind; long lessons learned at home 
tire both mind and body. When learning 
becomes a " task " it necessarily ceases to 
be attractive in itself. It should not be 
surprising that under such circumstances 
children lose their natural eagerness for 
knowledge. 

If the suggestions given be carried out 
in the right spirit, boys and girls will 
continue to be ''interrogative machines'* 
throughout their whole lives. 



CHAPTER VII. 

HOW TO GRATIFV AND DEVELOP THE NA- 

TURAL DESIRE FOR MENTAL 

ACTIVITY. 



Activity is one of the instincts of child- 
hood. It is not happy unless its mental or 
physical powers or both are engaged. 
«' Productive activity " is the corner stone of 
the delightful and truly philosophical sys- 
tem of Froebel. Give a child work to do 
of a character suited to his age, let it call 
his mental faculties and manual abilities 
into play, and he will be attentive, not 
merely because he is occupied, but because 
his occupation gives him delight. Fellen- 
berg says: " Experience has taught me that 
indolence in young persons is so directly 
opposite to their natural disposition to ac- 
tivity, that unless it is the consequence of 



58 HOW TO SECURE AND 

bad education, it is almost invariably con- 
nected with some constitutional defect." 
Hailman says : " Perhaps attention and 
activity of the mind are convertible terms; 
for we observe that the mind is never 
attentive, unless it is aroused to action by 
some external cause (such as a wonderful 
object, an exciting scene, a thrilling nar- 
rative, a deep sorrow), or by an internal 
cause — the will." It is important, there- 
fore, in order to secure attention, that every 
means be taken to awaken and satisfy the 
child's mental activity. To do this it will be 
found necessary to attend to the follow- 
ing:— 

1. Do as little telling as possible 
when teaching. Of course, the teacher 
should not try to teach everything by ex- 
periment, as he would waste time in doing 
so. The accumulated knowledge of the 
ages is a store from which the pupils ought 
to be allowed to draw largely without 
making all the necessary discoveries and 
progressive steps themselves. But when- 
ever the teacher can lead his pupils in the 
development of a subject he should do so. 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 59 

He should not allow them to wander in 
search of the gold mines of knowledge, 
neither should he dig the gold and coin it 
for them. The word for " schoolmaster " 
in the Welsh language has a very sugges- 
tive meaning. The word for school is 
" Ysgol," which conveys the meaning at 
once of progression in learning being step 
by step, commencing at the lowest rung 
and going upwards. The Welsh name for 
schoolmaster is " Ysgolfeister," the full 
significance being " One that teaches to 
climb." The teacher should not merely 
climb himself and throw down to his pu- 
pils the treasures which he finds. He 
should teach each pupil to climb for him- 
self, so that as he goes higher he may 
grow stronger. "This need for perpetual 
telling is the result of our stupidity, not the 
child's. We drag it away from the facts 
in which it is interested, and which it is 
actively assimilating for itself; we put be- 
fore it facts far too complex for it to un- 
derstand, and therefore distasteful to it; 
finding that it will not voluntarily acquire 
these facts, we thrust them into its mind 
by force ot threats and punishment; by 



6o HOW TO SECURE AND 

thus denying it the knowledge it craves, 
and cramming it with knowledge it cannot 
digest, we produce a morbid state of the 
faculties, and a consequent disgust for 
knowledge in general; and when, as a re- 
sult partly of the stolid indolence we have 
brought on, and partly of still continued 
unfitness in its studies, the child can un- 
derstand nothing without explanation, and 
becomes a mere passive recipient of our 
instruction, we infer that education must 
necessarily be carried on thus. Having by 
our "method induced helplessness, we 
straightway make the helplessness a reason 
for our method."* 

2. Give the pupils their rightful 
share in the work of study. Too much 
dependence is placed on eye teaching by 
many teachers. The observant faculties 
are certainly of great importance, and the 
teacher who develops them to a high de- 
gree will be v/ell repaid for his trouble. 
Pupils may scr a great deal without receiv- 
ing fixed impressions however. Seeing 
does not require intensity of attention. 

♦Iiifelleetiial EdwcdtUm.—Herhert Spence-. 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 6l 

The teacher cannot always be certain that 
the /oo^if/g- child is thinking about the sub- 
ject in hand. He may look at the teacher, 
or the blackboard, or an object and yet be 
thinking about his last fishing experience. 
To require each pupil to do for himself, 
is the only way of absolutely compelling 
him to attend. It is not receiving knowl- 
edge that fixes it in the minds of pupils, 
but reproducing it. If it can be repro- 
duced by the hand in a visible form, the 
attention is necessarily most continuous. 
The mind must attend, if it has to guide the 
hand. Each pupil should t/o tor himself 
the map his teacher draws on the board, 
he must do the correction of his own mis- 
takes; and if he is made to t/o work with 
his hands in learning any subject by even 
writing down the statements made con- 
<:erning it, the impressions made will be 
more permanent than in any other wax-. 
The inattention so lamentably noticeable 
in most Sunday Schools, and many Public 
Schools, is due to the facts that pupils are 
mere recipients of information and not 
active participators in the process of learning. 
They are hearer?, when they should be doers 



62 HOW TO SECURE AND 

3. Do not weary the minds of the pu- 
pils. A proper amount of physical exer- 
cise produces beneficial effects on the mus- 
cular system; beyond a certain point it is 
exhaustive. So a judicious amount of 
mental exercise strengthens and develops 
the mental powers, but study after the " fa- 
tigue point " has been reached has a de- 
bilitating effect. The moderate use of the 
physical powers gives pleasure, and in- 
creases the longing for exertion; so the 
judicious application of the mind awakens 
greater desire for study, and gives addi- 
tional power to investigate the problems 
which may be presented for thought. Pro- 
fessor Pillans held that, " where young 
people are taught as they ought to be,, 
they are quite as happy in school as at 
play, seldom less delighted, nay, often 
more, with the well-directed use of their 
mental energies, than with that of their 
muscular powers." 

4. Do not overload the minds of the 
pupils. The carrying power of a child's 
mind is frequently over-estimated by teach- 
ers. Many brilliant boys are made to carry 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 63 

such large loads of knowledge during their 
schooldays, that they become mentally 
paralyzed to a certain extent, and never 
recover their full vigor of thought. This 
partly accounts for the fact that so many 
clever school boys turn out to be only me- 
diocre men. Over-eating causes dyspep- 
sia and destroys the appetite for food. 
There are mental dyspeptics. 

5. Have matches in the various 
school subjects. Who does not remem- 
ber the enlivening effects of the spelling 
matches of his boyhood.' So intensely 
was their attention concentrated upon the 
subject in hand, that grown men remem- 
ber distinctly the very words missed by 
themselves and others in some remarbable 
contests. Such matches may just as well 
be conducted in reviewing the other school 
subjects as in spelling, and their effects in 
inspiriting classes will always be found to 
be very beneficial. They should not be 
held at stated times, or conducted in a for- 
mal and indifferent manner by the teacher,, 
or they will lose their interest. 



64 HOW TO SECURE AND 

6. Let pupils question each other. 

The contests which will awaken the high- 
est degree of mental activity on the part of 
pupils are those conducted by themselves. 
Confine them to the work actually taught 
and give them due notice, and such exer- 
cises will produce the most satisfactory 
results. No other plan will set pupils to 
work for themselves more earnestly and 
intelligently. It is a good plan in some 
subjects to prepare a series of questions 
for the pupils covering the work to be 
learned. These should not be given that 
the pupils may merely prepare answers to 
them, to be recited in a parrot-like manner. 
They should simply guide to the golden 
thoughts. They may be of use also to the 
pupils in preparing for the contests recom- 
mended. Professor White, of Oberlin Col- 
lege, says: " The pupils of a certain high 
school failed to be instructed in ' The Sci- 
ence of Government,' in which weekly 
exercises had been given to them for 
nearly a whole term. In despair the prin- 
cipal wrote carefully 200 questions, cov- 
ering the whole work. These he placed 
in the hands of each pupil, and divid- 



RETATN ATTENTION. 65 

ing the whole school into two sides, 
allowed each in turn to question the other 
side till he obtained a satisfactory answer, 
while he sat by to watch the ' slaughter of 
the innocents.' The first exercise was a 
failure, seeming merely to arouse the 
school; the second was successful, and the 
fifth was brilliant." 

7. Question while teaching. Some 
teachers ask questions only while review- 
ing. This is a serious mistake. To test 
knowledge is certainly one of the func- 
tions of questioning, but it is a subordinate 
one. Socratic, Instructive, Teaching, or 
Developing questioning is the most effica- 
cious mode of teaching. It does not sim- 
ply give information; it arouses the minds 
of pupils to activity, guides the active 
minds in the acquisition of knowledge, 
and sets the stored minds upon the plan of 
using the information obtained. It devel- 
ops not only receptive, but productive activity. 
" He who gives knowledge to the human 
mind is a benefactor; but far greater is he 
who by giving knowledge quickens into 
activity and productiveness the mind upon 



66 HOW TO SECURE AND 

which he works. The true teaching pro- 
cess involves the power of intellectual quick- 
ening^ which is that process by which the 
teacher excites the intellectual powers of 
his pupils to self-activity in the line of his 
teaching; and to be really effective it must 
also lead to the courses of thought, feel- 
ing, purpose, and action, which are the 
proper products of the truth taught." 

Teachers should talk and tell less, and 
draw out more. Questioning from the 
known to the unknown welds the links in 
the chain of knowledge as they are formed, 
so that when completed they are not 
merely isolated facts. It gives a pupil a 
conscious power to show him that he can 
overcome difficulties for himself. 

8. Use illustrations. There are sev- 
eral kinds of illustrations. The following 
should be largely used in teaching: 

1 . Blackboard illustration. 

2. Picture, map, and chart illustration. 

3. Model illustration. 

4. Object illustration. 

5. Illustration by experiments. 

6. Dramatic illustration. 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 6/ 

Blackboard illustration is of more use 
than any or perhaps all other kinds of 
illustration. Every teacher can use it; no 
teacher should try to teach without it. Its 
superiority over other methods of illustra- 
tion consists chiefly in the fact the work 
grows in the presence of the pupils. They 
see it made and help to make it, either by 
actually handling the crayon, or by mak- 
ing suggestions step by step as to what 
should be done next. The teacher who 
presents a finished illustration to his class 
weakens its effect by at least one half. It 
is nearly as bad to do the whole illustra- 
tion, even in the presence of the pupils, 
without explanation to them, or assistance 
from them at every step. Some teachers 
work the complete solution of a prob- 
lem on the board, when illustrating a 
new rule in arithmetic or algebra without 
speading or even looking at the class until 
they have finished it. Then they turn 
round and give the explanation in the ste- 
reotyped question, " Do you see .? " They 
would have interested their pupils a great 
deal more, and have educated them nearly 
as much, by tossing a copper for " heads or 



68 HOW TO SECURE AND 

tails." The following rules should be 
practised in blackboard illustration: 

1. Let the work done be simple in its 
character. 

2. Avoid symbolism, rebuses, &c. 

3. Arrange the steps in the process of 
thought in logical order. 

4. Number the various steps either by- 
figures or letters. 

5. The steps in the illustration should 
be done as the process of thought is devel- 
oped. 

6. When illustrating distinctive charac- 
teristics, peculiarities of growth or con- 
struction, &c., in teaching botany, zoology, 
natural philosophy, &c., it is well to exag- 
gerate the special parts to which attention 
should be directed. 

7. In solving a problem, making a dia- 
gram, drawing a map, explaining the con- 
struction of a machine, in fact in all kinds 
of blackboard work, every pupil ought to 
do on slate or paper what the teacher does 
on the board, and usually part by part 
after him. 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 6g 

2. Picture, map, and chart illustra- 
tion may be used in conjunction with 
blackboard illustration, both preceding 
and following it, to give a correct idea of 
things as ivholes^ and to show in some 
cases the coloring, &c. They ought to be 
used too in testing the accuracy of the 
work done by the teacher and pupils. For 
instance, when a map has been sketched 
it should be compared in its leading out- 
lines with the actual map to see whether 
the great features bear their proper rela- 
tions to each other; whether Florida ex- 
tends further south than California, &c. 

3. Model illustration is used by some 
teachers very successfully by cutting out 
the shapes of things or their parts trom 
brown paper, &c. Models of machines, of 
the parts of the human frame, &c., may be 
obtained, which will be of great use in 
teaching some subjects. Good teachers, 
howerve, usually try to make most of their 
own models. 

4. In Object illustration the pupils 
should not merely look at the things used. 



70 HOW TO SECURE AND 

They should take them in their hands and 
examine them. This will enable them to 
get additional ideas through the sense of 
touch, and will clearly define those re- 
ceived by looking at the object at a dis- 
tance. It will also give them a deeper in- 
terest in the object to be permitted to han- 
dle it. It is sometimes well to state the 
nature of the information desired before 
passing an object around, but frequently 
the pupils should be required to examine 
specimens with the view of finding out as 
as much as possible about them. This will 
make them independent observers. 

5. Illustration by experiment should 
as far as possible be conducted on the 
same principles as object illustration. It 
produces its highest results when every 
student performs for himself the experi- 
ments described by the teacher. If this 
cannot be done, the pupils, unless the 
class be too large, should assist the teach- 
er, each taking some part in preparing for 
the experiment. 

6. Dramatic illustration means repre- 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 7I 

sentation by action. The living, energetic 
teacher uses this method of illustration 
very largely, and if appropriate it always 
aids greatly in communicating knowledge. 
It is of much use in giving ideas of shape, 
size, direction, motion, action of machines, 
etc. Any one who has ever seen a deaf 
mute address an audience by s/gns, must 
have realized to what an extent action may 
be even substituted for speech. A good 
teacher always uses his hands and arms to 
emphasize, and illustrate what he says to 
his class. 

In all kinds of illustration it is well to 
keep the pictures, charts, maps, models, 
objects, apparatus, etc., out of sight as 
much as possible until the time arrives for 
using it. This stimulates the curiosity of 
the pupils and prevents the distraction of 
their attention. To show pictures at once, 
or to present the spectacle of a table cov- 
ered with apparatus is a capital method of 
gaining attention to the pictures or appar- 
atus. It may make it all the more diffi- 
cult, however, on this account to get the 
attention concentrated on the lesson itself. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



CULTIVATION OF THE SENSES. 



" Attention to the external is called ob- 
servation, to the internal reflection." It is 
of the highest importance that the senses 
be trained so that they may be able to per- 
form properly the various functions re- 
quired of them through life. We should 
not aim at an impossible standard, or 
strive only to develop acuteness of the 
senses. Alertness is also required. Sharp- 
ness of vision will be of no service if the 
eyes are kept closed; acuteness of hearing 
will do little good unless the mind is in a 
receptive attitude. The telephonic circuit 
must be established before the hearing 
produces impressions on the brain. Pes- 
talozzi held that, "Observation is the 
basis of all knowledge. The first object, 
then, in education, must be to lead the 
child to observe with accuracy." 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 73 

We should aim, then, to make the senses 
Attentive, 
Acute, 
Alert, 
Accurate. 

How can this be done? 

1. By Object Lessons. The three rules 
for the development of the senses are, ist 
exercise them, 2A, exercise them, 3d, exercise 
THEM. Well conducted object lessons will 
give an opportunity for the required exer- 
cise better than any other school subject. 
Unfortunately what are called "object les- 
sons" are commonly used merely for the 
purpose of giving information, rather than 
to develop the power of acquiring it. Ob- 
ject lessons should not be statements of 
facts concerning the objects used The 
information may be valuable, but in true 
object teaching it occupies a secondary or 
incidental place. The great aim, indeed 
the only aim of the teacher should be to 
present a well selected system of objects 
to the pupils, about which they may exer- 
cise their senses. Lessons on "common 
things " may be taught, and if taught they 



74 HOW TO SECURE AND 

should as far as possible be taught object- 
ively, but lessons on "common things" 
are no more true " object lessons" than les- 
sons in Geography, History or Grammar. 
Arithmetic, Geometry, Natural Philoso- 
phy, Chemistry, Natural History and Bot- 
any when properly taught are true object 
lessons. Lessons on common things in- 
tended to convey information, concerning 
the source, growth, production, etc., of the 
things used in every-day life are not ob- 
ject lessons. However valuable or prac- 
tical the information may be, if the teacher 
contents himself with merely storing his 
pupils' minds with it he is lamentably fail- 
ing to perform his true duty. However 
able the teacher may be, the shcjrtness of 
the time during which most children at- 
tend school, prevents his giving informa- 
tion in regard to the greater portion of the 
vast field of knowledge. Hailman says: 
" There must be a systematic 'laying up' 
of positive information, but this is of sec- 
ondary importance, compared with /^«;v//«^ 
how to for?)! and express ideas. One is the 
ability to work, the other the result of the 
work, one is an essential the other a conse- 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 75 

quence, one is constant, the same at all 
timesand underall circumstances, the latter 
must change with time and circumstances." 
The teacher's duty is to continue the educa- 
tive process begun by nature before the 
school period, and to send a pupil to the 
world again at the conclusion of his school 
life fully prepared to continueunderall cir- 
cumstances and at all times the process of 
self-education. The faculties which the 
child has on entering school should not 
merely be filled with information, they 
should be nourished and strengthened. 
The teacher's aim in teaching should be 
first to dev^elop, second to store the mind 
with knowledge. This is true of all sub- 
jects, but especially of object lessons. Ob- 
ject lessons should be given in teaching 
nearly every subject, however. The name 
"Object Lesson " is misleading, as it re- 
stricts broad principles to one compara- 
tively unimp jrtant department of school 
work. Many speakers on educational top- 
ics speak as though developing or intuition 
teaching was only to be practised while 
teaching object lessons. No greater erroT 
could be made. But even in '"giving" 



76 HOW TO SECURE AND 

an object lessen many teachers seem to re- 
gard the giving of mere facts as the great 
aim to be kept in view. Perhaps the most 
ridiculous feature of such object teaching 
is the fact, that teachers usually select 
for their lessons some common objects, 
with which the pupils are quite as well ac- 
quainted as they are themselves. It is 
right to select common objects for proper 
"object lessons," but not for iTiformation 
exercises. 

The books on object teaching are to 
blame for much of the misunderstanding 
in reference to this subject. They are 
mere compendiums of information. They 
give matter not method. "The intention of 
object lessons is not so much to commun- 
icate information as to put children in the 
way of collecting information for them- 
selves; to sharpen and direct their senses; 
to teach them to see things, instead of 
merely looking at them, and to decom- 
pose the confused aggregate of impressions 
which things at first make upon the mind ; 
to get them to classify and connect simple 
phenomena with their antecedents and 
consequents; to exercise their reason; and 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 77 

to do this in Nature's own way, by bring- 
ing the learner, as far as possible into di- 
rect contact with things, and satisfying his 
own instinctive needs." 

In teaching object lessons the following 
rules should be observed: 

1. Let every pupil have the opportunity 
of examining the object. 

2. Let the pupils examine first with a 
view of finding out as much as possible 
about the object themselves. 

3. Let them, if necessary, then inspect 
it for specific results named by the teacher. 

They should be independent of the 
teacher in making their observations, as 
they will have to depend upon themselves 
after they leave school, therefore the first 
method of instruction should be most reg- 
ularly used. 

2. Reading. By true Object lessons all 
the senses may be developed. The two- 
senses which teachers should specially aim 
to cultivate are hearing and seeing. "The 
defects in organization are not within the 
power of the preceptor; but we may ob- 
serve that inattention and want of exercise 



78 HOW TO SECURE AND 

are frequently the causes of what are mis- 
taken for natural defects ; and, on the con- 
trary, increased attention and cultivation 
sometimes produce that quickness of eye 
and ear, and that consequent readiness of 
judgment, which we are apt to attribute to 
natural superiority of organization or 
capacity. 

For rendering the hearing acute and alert 
there is no subject on the school programme 
of such importance as reading, if it is prop- 
erly taught. 

There is a great deal of telling done im- 
properly in the teaching of reading. 
When a pupil has finished his reading the 
teacher usually at once proceeds to/^V/him 
the mistakes he has made. " You should say 
re-cess', instead oi re' -cess^ catch instead of 
ketch^ get instead oi git ; you should not 
pause after in ; you should pause after 
March; you sh(juld emphasize dying, etc., 
etc." That this is a mistake will at once 
be seen, when it is remembered that cor- 
rect reading and speaking depend upon 
■ear cultivation more than on anything else. 
The great majority of people do not per- 
ceive, when they hear a word pronounced 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 79 

in a manner different from the way in 
which they are accustomed to pronounce 
it themselves. Unless some one calls at- 
tention to their errors, they go on mispro- 
nouncing words, which they hear pro- 
nounced correctly every day. This result 
should be expected if pupils are corrected 
in the above manner throughout their 
school life. 

When a mistake is made in pronuncia- 
tion, accent, emphasis, pauses, intonation, 
etc., the teacher should give the correct 
reading himself, or get one of the best 
pupils to do so, and call on the pupil who 
made the error to state the difference be- 
tween his reading and that of his teacher. 
If he cannot do so, it is useless to ask him 
to "read it again" as is frequently done. 
The teacher should read the sentence, or 
that portion in which the error is made, in 
both the correct and the incorrect way, 
emphasizing the error slightly if neces- 
sary, until the pupil can distinguish the 
one method from the other. In this way 
the ear will be quickened and attentive, 
and the pupil will become self-educative 



8o HOW TO SECURE AND 

in this respect, as lie should be in all others, 
when he leaves school. 

The seeing power may also be devel- 
oped in a high degree by reading. The 
vision must be acute to read well. Every 
letter in every word must be looked at, 
and yet the perceptions must be sharp 
and clearly defined. To many pupils when 
learning the words appear indistinct, as 
they look to one reading in a faint light. 
This must be remedied by practice. It 
will not help the pupil to see accurately 
if the mis-named words are corrected by 
the teacher. If the pupil, for instance, 
reads verily^ very, and the teacher merely 
says, as most teachers do, " Call that word 
very,"" the pupil's vision is not rendered 
more sharp. When mis-calling words is 
the only mistake made or the special one 
to be corrected, the best method the 
teacher can adopt is to say, " Read again 
carefully." The pupil can correct his own 
mistakes in this case, and he should be 
made to do so. 

3. Spelling. While both the eye and 
the ear can be developed by means of 



RETAIN ATTENTION. SI 

spelling, it is mainly through the former 
that we must teach this subject. Good 
spelling depends on the " memory of the 
eye." The London Times once said, " Spell- 
ing is learnt by reading, and nothing but 
reading can teach spelling." Spelling de- 
pends on the intensity of the attention with 
which pupils look at words and their parts 
while reading them. If teachers can suc- 
ceed in developing the habit of close and 
accurate scrutiny of the letters in the words 
during reading lessons, they will have lit- 
tle bad spelling. Careless readers are in- 
accurate spellers. The eye has to look at 
each individual letter on a page as it is 
read. Attention then cannot be sustained, 
as the glance at each letter must be instan- 
taneous. It should, however, be intense, 
and, as most words recur frequently, it 
will be oft repeated. On the intensity and 
and repetition of attention depend the ac- 
curacy and permanence of impressions, so 
that if they can be secured the best results 
must follow in teaching any subject. In 
regard to spelling, the teacher has only to 
secure the intensity, except in the case of 
words that but rarely appear in print. If 



82 HOW TO SECURE AND 

the necessary interest cannot be aroused 
in reading to secure a sufficient degree of 
attention to the words as they are read, the 
teacher must have recourse to other meth- 
ods which will compel the required at- 
tention. The best way of doing is to make 
pupils write out the spelling lessons. It 
is surprising that many pupils will at first 
make mistakes even in transcription. As 
they can be held responsible for the use of 
their eyes, however, they will soon learn 
by practice to see accurately and copy 
correctly. When a pupil is required to 
write several times a word which he has 
mis-spelled, it is not with a view of mak- 
ing him think how the word is spelled, but 
to help him to see the letters it contains, 
and how they are arranged. The practice 
is based upon the sound principle that 
actual doing is the best means of compel- 
ling attention to any subject. 

4. Drawing. Drawings are executed 
with the hand, the hand is guided by the 
brain, and the brain receives its impres- 
sions about the lines to be drawn through 
the senses. This is an explanation of the 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 85 

general principle laid down in the last 
paragraph, that doing with the hand com- 
pels attention. If the sense impressions 
are inaccurate the hand can not be defi- 
nitely guided. In most kinds of drawing 
the eye is the medium through which the 
mind obtains the ideas which the hand is 
to reproduce on paper. The eye therefore 
has two functions in regard to this subject : 

1. To receive exact impressions of the 
copy or object to be drawn. 

2. To inspect the drawing as it is being 
executed to see that it is correctly done. 

There is no subject on the school pro- 
gramme which compels attention on the 
part of all pupils to a greater extent than 
Dictation drawing. The terms used are so 
definite in their meaning that the slightest 
misconception of the teacher's language, 
when dictating forms and their combina- 
tions, will show itself in an incorrect pic- 
ture. Every pupil must therefore give 
close attention in this subject or his negli- 
gence will be detected. 

5. Writing. The remarks made about 
the use of the eye in drawing from copies 



«4 HOW TO SECURE AND 

on paper, on the blackboard, or from ob- 
jects, apply also to writing, if it is properly- 
taught The eye should carefully analyze 
the letter to be written, and inspect the 
written letter with the view of finding out 
by comparison with the copy what its de- 
fects are. Unfortunately too many teach- 
ers prevent this inspection by the pupils 
by pointing out the errors made, instead 
of merely directing attention to them, so 
that the pupils might discover their nature 
foi' themselves and thus become in this, as 
they should ultimately become in all sub- 
jects, independent of the teacher. 

6. Hints. There are some special ex- 
ercises for the development of the ability 
to see and hear. For instance a picture 
may be shown for only a tew seconds to a 
class and then each pupil allowed to de- 
scribe something that he saw in it ; or var- 
ious noises may be made by striking differ- 
ent substances and otherwise, in the hear- 
ing but not within the sight of the pupils, 
that they may form opinions as to the 
•causes of the various sounds produced. 

Notes on a musical instrument should 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 85 

be sounded at random until each pupil 
could recognize them unerringly as they 
are given. Other exercises of a similar 
nature will suggest themselves to teachers. 
They may take the form ofgames to re- 
lieve the vvearisomeness or the monotony 
of school work. 



CHAPTER IX. 



GENERAL SUGGESTIONS. 



1. Get the sympathy of your class. 

If your pupils are interested in you, they 
can be more easily interested by you in 
their lessons. The love of approbation is 
a strong motive, if the teacher is liked by 
the pupils. The desire to please a kind 
teacher will lead to great efforts to con- 
centrate the attention on the subject he 
teaches. Teachers should strive to be 
cheerful, kind, courteous, polite, and dis- 
criminating in all their intercourse with 
their pupils in and out of school. "Good 
mornings " are easily given, but not easily 
forgotten. 

2. Get the confidence of your class. 

Let them see not merely that you regard 
the subjects you teach as of great import- 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 87 

ance, but also that you arouse no inquir- 
ing interest whose questions you cannot 
answer. Be prepared with your work. 
Acknowledge frankly your lack of infor- 
mation in regard to any question which 
comes up unexpectedly and which you 
have not before considered. If you do so 
your pupils will have implicit faith in you, 
when you assume to speak definitely. 

3. Be mai^lietic. It is not enough to 
merely attract a pupil's attention, it must 
be held. The teacher's manner has a good 
deal to do with holding the attention of 
his class. He should for the time make the 
pupils forget their individual personality 
and become one in aim and purpose with 
himself. How can this be done ? 

1. The teacher must understand his sub- 
ject and have his lesson arranged so that 
he is not conscious of mental strain in 
teaching it. 

2. He must believe his lesson to be im- 
portant. 

3. He must be earnest and enthusiastic, 
in order to stir up a corresponding zeal 
on the part of his pupils. 



5» HOW TO SECURE AND 

4. He must not be listless, cold, formal, 
or mechanical in his teaching. 

4. Appeal to the natural instincts of 
a child. The following should be used 
as incentives to attention : — 

1. Curiosity. The desire to know, the in- 
quisitive faculty that worries busy mothers, 
and, in too many homes and schools, dies 
from a lack of exercise and nourishment. 

2. Love of activity. Mental activity gives 
quite as much delight to a healthy child 
as physical exercise. Neither affords 
pleasure, if it degenerates into drudgery. 
There are few boys who appreciate very 
highly the privilege of digging ditches 
day after day. Mental ditching is no more 
attractive to them. 

3. Sympathy. This leads to unity of pur- 
pose and co-operation between teacher 
and pupils. They should get out of their 
owa channels of thought and into his, for 
the time being. It is clear that the broad- 
er and deeper his channel is, the more 
easily his pupils may get into it, and the 
more rapid will be their progress in it. 

4. Love of praise. If the pupil has the 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 89 

proper amount of respect for his teacher, 
he will be very desirous of earning his ap- 
probation Teachers should not be too 
sparing in their commendation of earnest 
efforts. Praise for honest work. 

5. Fear of offending. The pupil who loves 
his teacher will endeavor to avoid causing 
him annoyance, and will be glad to learn 
his lessons or give attention, if he can 
s^ve his teacher pain by doing so. 

6. Emulation. While too great a rivalry 
is likely to produce evil results that may 
outweigh the good done, it is well to use, 
as a motive power, as much of the spirit 
of emulation as will awaken increased 
interest, and arouse to energetic work. 

7. Appreciation of resulting benefits. As 
pupils grow older they should be led to 
take an interest in study for its ultimate 
aims, developing character and fitting for 
usefulness in the various walks of life. 

o. Think out each lesson for your- 
self. Do not merely memorize lessons, 
or depend upon those prepared by others, 
however good they may be. Let the les- 
ion become your own by a careful process 



90 HOW TO SECURE AND 

of thought, let this process be repeated 
until it has become fixed, and your person- 
al, magnetic power will be increased very 
largely. There is as much difference in 
the personal influence of a teacher whose 
lesson has been thought, and that of one 
whose lesson has been learned by rote, as 
there is between the attractiveness of an 
orator who speaks without notes, and the 
man who reads his sermons or speeches. 

The one teacher can give his attention 
to his class, and the other must attend to 
his lesson, lest he may forget it. 

The difference in the effect produced by 
the two ways of teaching is much greater 
with children than with adults. 

6. Use the pupils' eyes. If the interest 
is beginning to flag, show the pupils some- 
thing. Illustrate the work in some way, 
even if you have to change the designed 
order of your lesson to make the illustra- 
tion appropriate. The teacher who only 
talks to his class uses only half of his teach- 
ing power, and employs less than half of 
the receptive power of the pupils. It is 
often a good way to begin with an illustra- 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 9I 

tion, so as to concentrate the attention at 
once upon the subject in hand, and drive 
out the thoughts which have been occupy- 
ina: the minds of the scholars. 

7. Give occasional rests. Giving 
fixed and intense attention is an exhaust- 
ive effort. Rest does not necessarily mean 
cessation from effort. Relief may be giv- 
en to one faculty by the exercise of another. 
Variety is in many cases equivalent to 
rest. 

8. Do not distract attention. It is 

wrong to stop the work of a whole class 
to scold one pupil for inattention, or even 
to notice his listlessness in such a way as to 
disconcert others. A question will be 
sufficient to arrest and reprove him. 
"Teachers themselves often distract the 
attention of children by the injudicious way 
in which they handle a subject ; by import- 
ing into their lesson irrelevant matter; by 
mixing up information that ought to be 
kept distinct ; by a see-saw mode of pro- 
cedure; bv exhibiting pictures, specimens, 
etc., before they are required, and by leav- 



92 HOW TO SECURE AND 

ing them before the class after they have 
served their purpose. 

9. Do not be discouniged if children 
at first have difiiculty in giving fixed 
attention. It is hard work to give contin- 
ued attention. The teacher should develop 
the power gradually at first. Currie ex- 
presses this idea well. He says, " The 
power of attention is the result of habit. 
Time must therefore be allowed for its 
growth. The first efforts exacted from the 
child should be gentle ; one point should 
be presented at a time, that he may not be 
bewilded by multiplicity; the strain on his 
attention should not be long continued ; 
he should be relieved before he is compelled 
to desist from fatigue; one success will 
make a subsequent one easier of attain- 
ment; failure will make the next attempt 
mo»'e arduous. 

10. Use jndgment in questioning. 

The following rules concerning question- 
ing have special reference to securing at- 
tention : — 

1. Do not ask questions in rotation. 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 93 

2. Do not /'^//// to the pupil whom you 
wish to answer while asking a question. 

3. Do not even look fixedly at the pupil 
whom you wish to answer, while giving 
the question. 

4. State questions to the class as di whole; 
ask one member for the answer. 

5. Do not wait an instant for the answer 
when reviewing most subjects. 

6. Do not look steadily at the pupil who 
is answering. 

7. Do not repeats, question to oblige 
those who were inattentive. 

8. Be sure to ask questions to those who 
are in the sliglitest degree inattentive. 

11. Do not depend too much on sim- 
ultaneous answering. If you do, you 

cannot be sure that your pupils are giving 
intelligent attention. They may join me- 
chanically in repeating an answer without 
thinking. Pupils may be taught to speak 
out by simultaneous answering, and time 
may sometimes be saved by its use. Sim- 
ultaneous repetition and simultaneous 
answering must not be confounded. The 



94 HOW TO SECURE AND 

frequent repetition of anything to be 
learned by rote is often the quickest and 
surest way of impressing it on the minds 
of pupils. All the members of a class if 
well trained, may responsively repeat brief 
statements made by the teacher while 
teaching. They mav even answer together 
when being reviewed, if the teacher wishes 
theanswerto begiven in aset formof words. 
Even then there is a danger that the indo- 
lent will wait for the keynotes from the 
leaders. They should never answer to- 
gether while being taught, unless their 
answers can be given by a single word. 
If the answer to a question requires inde- 
pendent thought, and it is of little conse- 
quence unless it does so, it should not be 
answered simultaneously, as each pupil 
may have a different answer. If the answers 
are certain to be literally the same they 
may be given at the same time. Even sim- 
ultaneous repetition requires great care. 
The teacher must speak with the greatest 
possible precision and distinctness, and he 
must listen with the utmost care to the re- 
sponces made. These responses should be 
ofiven in a natural tone of voice. Classes 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 95 

that are allowed to repeat together are lia- 
ble to acquire a loud drawling manner of 
speaking that is very disagreeable. Every 
teacher should renieniber, however, that 
in its most perfect form simultaneous answer^ 
ing is the most mechanical kind of teaching. It 
is 7vord grinding, and generally the words 
even if correctly uttered form but an "un- 
meaning jargon " to the pupils. 

Many very ludicrous examples might be 
given to show that children do not even get 
the right words when taught to repeat in 
concert. 

A girl who had learned in this way to re- 
peat Byron's lines on the Battle of Waterloo 
grew to be a woman with the impression 
that one line read : 

Ah M(irm, it is, it is the cannons' opening- roar. 

Sunday schoolchildren frequently make 
dreadful parodies of the hymns taught to 
them. 

The following answers were given by 
pupils eleven years of age in one of the 
schools of London, England. They had 
been accustomed to repeat the catechism 
half an hour of each day in day school and 



■96 HOW TO SECURE AND 

in Sunday school for four or five years, and 
this is what they wrote : 

" My duty toads God is to bleed in him 
to fering and to loaf withold your arts 
withold my mine withold my sold and with 
my sernth to whirchp and to give thanks 
to put my old trast in him to call upon 
him to onner his old name and his world 
and to save him truly all the days of my 
life's end. 

My dooty tords by nabers to love him 
as thyself and to do to all men as I wed 
thou shall do and to me to love onner and 
suke my father and mother and bey the 
queen and all that are pet in a forty under 
her to smit myself to all my goones teach- 
ers spartial pastures and masters who 
oughten myself lordly and every to all my 
betters to hut nobody by would nor deed 
to be trew and jest in all deelins to beer 
nomalisnoratedinyour artsto kep myands 
from pecking and steel my turn from evil 
speak and la wing and slanders not tocivit or 
desar othermans good but to lern labour 
trewly to get my own leaving and to do 
my dooty in that state if life and to each 
it hes please God to call man." 



RETAIN ATTENTION. 97 

Another gave the following answer to 
the question " Who was Moses? " 

" He was an Egypshin. He lived in a 
bark made of bull rushers and he kep a ' 
golden calf and worship braizen snakes 
and he het nuthin but kwales and manner 
for forty year. He was kort by the air of 
his ed while riding under the bow of a 
tree and he was killed by his Abslon as he 
was a hanging from the bow, His end 

was pease." 

Do not be deceived. Simultaneous 
answering is not a developing exercise. 
The very pupils who should attend most 
carefully, often do not attend at all, when 
this method is adopted. 



TO PRINCIPALS OF ACADEMIES AND 
UNION SCHOOLS. 



For the Regents' examinations we now prepare five 
forms of Examination-paper, all printed from new plates, 
and with some changes suggested by the board of Regents. 

PRICES PER REAM. 

Note.— All the paper weighs fourteen pounds per ream of 480 full 
sheets, but is put up iu reams of 480 half sheets, weighing 
seven pounds. Please specify ttie letter, in ordering. NO 
ORDERS FILLED EXCEPT FOR EVEN REAMS. Even 
schools which have but two or three scholars to try will find 
it profitable to keep a ream on hand. So much less attention 
as to the form of the paper is required of the scholar that he 
can give his undivided attention to answering the questions. 
It is now the practice of many of the best schools to put the 
scholars intending to try, through one complete examination 
with questions given at a previous time, using this paper, and 
having all the formalities complied with. This gives the 
scholars confidence, and precludes the nervousness which is 
often fatal to success. 

B. All printed, for Arithmetic, Geography, 

or Grammar $2.25 

C All printed and numbered for Spelling, 

as per sample 2.50 

D. 37 sheets Spelling printed and num- " 

bered, 
185 sheets Arithmetic. Geography, 

Grammar, printed, 
258 sheets Arithmetic, Geography, 

Grammar, not printed, 
480 sheets complete for 37 pupils j 2.00 

The last form is preferred by nine-tenths of the schools purchasing, ' 
and we recommend it as the cheapest and most satisfactory. The 
sheets printed on the back are used only for the last sheet in each ex- 
ercise, usually the second in Arithmetic and Geography and the third 
in Grammar. 

E. The same as D. except that all the 
sheets in Arithmetic, Grammar, and 
Geography are printed upon the back.- 2.40 

F. All printed, for the Advanced Examina- 
tions only 2.25 

C. W. BAKDEICN, Pub., Syiaciiso, N. Y. 



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F. All printed, for Advanced Examiiiatloas only 2 2-2 

G. All plain, without printing 1 Ta 

Begents' Questioii.s. Eleven Editions. 

Complete, ivith Key. The Ilegents' Questions from the first examina- 
tion in 1866. to June 1882, wheu publication ceased. Being the Questions 
for the preliminai'y examinations for admission to the University of the 
State of New York, prepared by the Regents of the University, and 
participated In sinniltaneously by more tlian 2.')0 academies, forming a 
basis for the distribution of more than milliou of dollars. Cloth, l6mo, 

pp. 473 2 00 

Complete. The same as the above, hut without the answers. Clotli, 

16m.), pp. 340 1 00 

Aritlimetic, Key to Arithmetic, Geography, Key to Geography, Gram- 
mar. Key to Grammar, and Spelling. Each ^ 

Thousand Regents' Questions in Arithmetic, printed on 500 slips of card- 
board , with book 1 00 

Gra)nmar and Key. The 2,fl75 questions in Grammar, with complete 

Kev, and references. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 198 1 ('O 

Richardson (B. W.) Learning and Health. Paper 16mo, pp. 39 l'> 

Koe (Martha.) A Work in Number. Cloth, 12mo. pp. 160 50 

Koget OP. M.) Themurus of English Words. Cloth, r2mo. pp. 800 2 00 

Kiissell (Hattie Sanford.) Half a Hundred Songi. Boards, 12mo, pp. 103. 85 

RyaiiKJ. W.) School Record, (18.\23i, 112 blanks. Each set of Seven 50 

Siiiiford (H. K.) The Word Method in Number. A sy.stem of teaching 
K:ipiii Numerical Combinations. Per box of 45 cards, printed on both 

sides 50 

Sherrill (.J. E.) The Normal Question Book. Cloth. 12mo, pp. 405 150 

Slate Feucil Blackhoard Slating. Dustless, Distinct, Durable. lu tin 
ciins. ready for use, 

Pints, covering 75 feet, one coat ^ 5" 

Quarts, " 150 " " 2 75 

Gallons. " 600 " " 10 00 

Slated Paper, per square yard 50 

Southwick (A. P.) Dime Question, Books, with full answers, notes, queries, 
etc. Each ..-•- 10 



Oimmon School Seriet. 
8. Physiology. 
4. Tli«ory and Practice. 
6. U. S. tlistory and Civil GoTernmest. 
10. Algebra. 

13. American Literatare, 

14. Grsunmar. 

lb. Oribo^raphy and Etymoloev. 
18. Aritlimetic. ^' 



Advanced Seriet. 

1. Puvsita. 

2. General L.iteralar». 

6. General History, 

7. Astronomy 

8. Wytliology, 

9. Riietoric. 
11. Botany. 

15. Zoology. 

16. Chemistry. 
Geolo 



□ d Political Geography, 
20. Reading and Punctuation. 

THE ELEMENTAltY QUESTION BOOK, incuTding in one volume the 

Tea Question Books of the Common School Series, as above. Cloth, 

16nio, pp. 387 1 60 

THE ADVANCED QUESTION BOOK, including In one volume the Ten 

Question Books of the Advanced Series, as above. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 3G6. 1 50 

(ilUZZlHM. Quirks and Quibbles from Queer Quarters 16mo. pp. 25.... 25 

Straislit (H. H.) Practical Aspects of InduMrial Ed. Paper, Svo, pp. 12. 15 

Tliiirber (S.) Recent Critici-'ms on our Public Schools. Paper, 8vo. i)p. 11. 16 

Tillixghast (Wm.) The Diadem of School Songs, containing songs and 

music tor all grades of schools, a new system of instruction in the 

eli^ments of music, and a manual of directions for the use of teachers. 

New Edition. 4to, hoards ])p. 160 60 

Uuderwoocl (L. M.) Systematic Plant Record. Manilla, 7x8%. pp. 52 ... 80 
Any book in this list will be sent by mail on receipt of price. Send two 
stamps for complete illustrated Catalogue. Address, C. W. BAKDE1<:X, 

Sykacuse. N. y. 



«w 



BRARY OF COJCRESb 

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021 338 589 6 




